Sunday, July 27, 2014

d-Autumn Festival is an inherited custom of moon sacrificial
ceremonies. The ancient Chinese observed that the movement of the moon
had a close relationship with changes of the seasons and agricultural
production. Hence, to express their thanks to the moon and celebrate the
harvest, they offered a sacrifice to the moon on autumn days.

This custom could be traced back to the Zhou Dynasty
(1046 - 256 BC) and was more often practiced by the royal class on the
Autumnal Equinox. At that time, the custom had no festival background at
all. Later in the Sui (581 - 618 AD) and Tang
(618 - 907 AD) dynasties, social prosperity inspired the custom of
appreciating the moon on the moon sacrifice ceremony day among common
people and the two merged. The people expressed their faith more
liberally than the royal class and so they did not strictly hold their
activities on the Autumnal Equinox. So August 15th of the Chinese lunar
calendar, the closest full moon day to the Autumnal Equinox, turned out
to be a better choice and was set as a fixed festival. This happened in
the Tang Dynasty. By the time of the Northern Song Dynasty (960 - 1127 AD), Mid-Autumn Festival had already become a widely celebrated folk festival.

Romantically
speaking, the festival is to commemorate Chang E, who in order to
protect her beloved husband’s elixir, ate it herself and flew to the
moon.